On Talking Points I

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On Talking Points I usually dish out comment and speculation with a mix of sarcasm and jest. But some issues require more seriousness and precision. This is one of them.

As you may have heard, or may yet hear, Gary Condit’s spokeswoman Marina Ein (the subject of my article which appeared today in Salon) has publicly accused me of including multiple falsehoods in my article. Particularly (and here I quote from Ein’s letter to Salon), she says:

“As it is, these statements, and others attributed to me in Mr. Marshall’s piece are false and destructive. Further, the premise of the piece – that I was somehow engaged in an effort to cast aspersions on Ms. Levy’s character or past – is entirely false.”

It is worth noting that in her letter (which I assume Salon will publish tomorrow) Ms. Ein never denies having said what I quoted her as saying. That one quote being: “What about the fact that Lisa DePaulo is working on this article for Talk magazine and it turns out Chandra Levy has a history of one-night stands?

I understand that there will be at least a couple articles written on this mini-controversy in tomorrow’s papers. So when I read them I will comment on whatever Ein or anyone else is quoted as saying.

But for now let me state the following clearly and unequivocally: I stand behind the article 100%. The quotation in question is a word-for-word quotation from Ms. Ein from an on-the-record phone interview yesterday afternoon. Anything anyone states to the contrary is untrue, period.

P.S. If you’d like to see me say the same thing on TV, I’m on O’Reilly tonight on Fox News. And then on some other Fox show — I’m not completely sure which — at approximately 9:30 AM EST tomorrow morning.

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